Work or network...final year of nursing school?

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[font=system][color=dimgray]if given the choice
[font=system][color=dimgray]work as a pct or cna while completing school to get your foot in the door ...
[font=system][color=gray]or
[font=system][color=dimgray]concentrate on school and family???

[font=system]i am about to start senior year of the adn program (yay!!) i am married with 2 kids and live about 45 minutes from school. my typical school week will be as follows:

[font=system]1 - 12 hr clinical day, we go and get our pt assignment the day before on our own time

[font=system]2 - 2 hour lectures per week

[font=system]1 - 2 hour lab (mine happens to be the same day as one of my lectures)

[font=system]i am also the president of our colleges honor society which requires about an hour of prep work each week for our 1 hour meeting.

[font=system]i am thinking i can just network while at clinical since the hospital i have my clinical at is where i would like to work. obviously, i would prefer to not work but i dont want to make it harder on myself when it comes to finding a job in a year.
[font=system]many of my fellow nursing classmates have gotten pct jobs with the hope that they will transition to rn positions after graduation. the nurses i know say if you don't have to work, don't but...with the hiring freeze i am concerned that the only people that will get jobs are those that already are already working at the hospitals. i only want to work part-time or per-diem (after orientation, which i believe requires full-time) since i plan on continuing my studies, maybe that makes a difference?[font=system]i know everyone and every place is different but would love to hear what some recent grads think about this. thanks!

I'm not a grad, but I am having the same dilemma. One thing to remember: I just got a call for a job interview at a hospital, but had to be available for two 40-hour weeks of orientation starting in September. Um, I think my CIs might have a problem with that, ya know? So even if you did try for a job, orientation might be a fly in the ointment.

If I were you, I'd get a PCT position. I'm applying for jobs now, since I'm graduating in December, and a lot of nurse recruiters are asking for this experience. If I hadn't been in an accelerated program, I would've done it. They want people with some kind of experience. You could work PRN, so you'd only work when it was convenient for you...